How to Make Your Next Counter Person Hire

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Last updated at 09-19-2020 10:44:23

Overview

Methodology

More than 4,349 companies advertise 10,000 Counter Person jobs on SimplyHired and its partner sites each year. After analyzing job postings and salary information from these companies, as well as direct job seeker feedback, we’ve compiled a list of insights to show you how to attract and hire your next Counter Person most efficiently.

Hiring Process

In the past quarter, we’ve seen 3,522 job posts from 1,975 employers in the United States. This is a increase of 67.3% compared to the previous quarter. On average, there are 94 Counter Person job seekers for every active Counter Person job, which shows that it is a job seeker's market.

Writing a Job Description

In the past quarter, Customer Service Representative, Warehouse Worker, Delivery Driver, Counter Person, Retail Sales Associate, Receptionist, Sales Associate, Cashier, Counter Sales Representative, and Associate seem to be the most sought after jobs amongst the Counter Person candidates in the United States. This differs from the last six quarters, where the most popular titles were: Customer Service Representative, Warehouse Worker, Delivery Driver, Counter Person, Retail Sales Associate, Receptionist, Cashier, Sales Associate, Counter Sales Representative, and Server. If you use one of these currently popular titles in the job description, you'll likely be able to attract a lot more candidates to apply.

For the Counter Person candidates who are actively applying to jobs in this same period, we see that 21.8% of the active Counter Person candidates have less than 3 years of experience, 21.6% have between 3-5 years of experience, 24.9% have 6-10 years of experience, and 31.7% have over 10 years of experience. The average years of experience has shifted from an estimated 10.8 years to 9.6 years. If you're posting a job in today's market, expect candidates with about the same experience level to apply to your job compared to the last 2 quarters.

In the previous quarter, the most popular skills that employers are looking for include time management, customer service, communication skills, sales, computer skills, dealership experience, organizational skills, computer literacy, English, and Spanish. Demand for dealership experience, communication skills, computer skills, time management, sales, customer service, English, and organizational skills has significantly increased. If you are looking for a Counter Person with a similar skill set, be sure to follow industry best practices in skill requirements.

Job posts with salary information received about 1.6 as many applies as those without it. In the past quarter, less than 34.0% of the job posts displayed salary information. By adding salary information to your job posting, you could potentially increase the number of applicants by approximately 60.0%.

Example Counter Person responsibilities

  • A counter person may be in charge of the cash register and store or lobby.
  • Sometimes they are just the person who runs the cash register. A common role for a counter person is to set up a display of a new product that a company is introducing to the public. They might also enforce rules on smoking in the store or they might check and fill up customers' propane tanks.

Recruiting

Active Recruiting

When reaching out to candidates, it’s best to understand where to look. We’ve identified hiring trends in states as well as companies regularly hiring for Counter Person positions. This should provide a good place to start looking for qualified candidates. According to our data in the last quarter: New York, Pennsylvania, California, New Jersey, and Florida are the states that have the highest demand for Counter Persons. New York, Florida, Pennsylvania, California, and New Jersey are where most job seekers are searching for Counter Person jobs. If we look at the Counter Person to job ratio, Minnesota, Missouri, Alaska, Wyoming, and Montana have the lowest number of Counter Person applicants per job. Mississippi, South Dakota, Delaware, Tennessee, and Kansas have the most active Counter Person job seekers per job.

Passive Recruiting

While actively recruiting candidates for your role, you should also post your job to SimplyHired. By posting for free and paying only for the qualified applicants you want, your post will automatically go to a network of job boards to reach millions of qualified candidates. With SimplyHired, it doesn’t end with the post. You can track your applicants throughout the hiring process with our simple and easy to use Applicant Tracking System (ATS).

Review Candidates

In the last quarter, we estimate there are 332,731 job seekers interested in Counter Person opportunities in the United States. That’s a 80.3% increase compared to the previous quarter with 184,578 active job seekers. Around 21.8% of the active Counter Person candidates have less than 3 years of experience, over 21.6% have between 3-5 years of experience, 24.9% have 6-10 years of experience, and 31.7% have over 10 years of experience. The average experience level of the available Counter Person candidates is 9.6 years. Active candidates in the Counter Person profession most commonly have high school diplomas, followed by associate's degrees, bachelor's degrees, and master's degrees. When setting education requirements for your position, aligning with the industry standard makes it easier to find potential candidates. Application rates indicate that Counter Person candidates are likely experiencing a market in which applicants have greater negotiating power. From an employer perspective, you'll likely have to attract several times more candidates to make a hire compared to other professions.

Interviewing Candidates

Interview Process

*Self-reported data collected from 1,144 Counter Persons from 1/1/2020 to 6/30/2020, via online employer reviews for companies including NAPA Auto Parts, Advance Auto Parts, O'Reilly Auto Parts, WIS International, Dunkin' Donuts, Galaxy Toyota, Tim Hortons, McDonald's, AutoZone, and Smitty's Garage.

After analyzing post-interview data from Counter Person candidates in the last 6 months, we see more than 71.6% of the candidates self-reported being hired within 1 to 2 days. Around 95.5% of the candidates for this job reported being hired within 2 weeks. If your process takes longer than 2 weeks in the recent market, you'll likely lose these candidates to other employers. Most of the Counter Person candidates are expecting a on-site interview, background check, drug test, and phone call/screening. Most employers do not require a problem solving exercises or they have no interview. If you are trying to hire your next Counter Person quickly, consider simplifying and streamlining the hiring process. As for the interview experience, more than 64.9% of the candidates had a good or great interview experience, and more than 63% of the candidates thought that the interview leaned more towards easy.

Example Interview Questions

  • What strengths are most valuable to you in this position?
  • Please share an example of how you handled a customer service issue.
  • Describe an example of how you created a positive change for yourself using a positive attitude.
  • What was your most difficult task as a Counter Person? How did you overcome that difficulty?
  • How can you contribute to our success?

Final Review and Offer

Reference Check

Checking references is a quick and easy way to check for any red flags that didn’t arise to this point in the hiring process. Great insights can be provided by former colleagues and employers.

Crafting an Offer: Salary and Benefits

The average Counter Person salary offered by employers increased for 3 out of 6 consecutive quarters in the United States. In the last quarter, we see a decrease of 4% from $41,244.51 to $39,570.02 compared to the quarter before, which is on par with the past 6 quarters. For Counter Person positions, the most common benefits job seekers reported being offered by employers include: discounts by 76.9%, healthcare insurance by 43.6%, paid time off by 39.7%, a 401k plan by 35.9%, dental insurance by 34.6%, vision insurance by 28.2%, and stock options/grants by 2.6%. While still relatively rare, more and more employers now offer flexibility benefits, including location variety, sabbaticals, mostly remote, somewhat remote, paternity leave, flexible working hours, fully remote, and maternity leave, to attract and retain Counter Person candidates to their organization.

Background Check and Drug Test

According to self-reported job seeker feedback, 24.1% of the employers conducted a background check, and 21.9% of the employers conducted a drug test prior to the hiring of their Counter Person candidates.

Onboarding

When you’re ready to hire a Counter Person, SimplyHired is here to help with your next steps. Our Human Resources Information System (HRIS) provides onboarding tools and other essential HR tools. From document signing to time off tracking, our HRIS will help you seamlessly move a Counter Person candidate through the hiring and onboarding process.
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